Thoughts of a Psych/Code Monkey/Guitarist

To all those who are reading this, I wish you a very Merry Chirstmas, as well as a Happy New Year!!! It seems as though each year is more enjoyable than the last, and this has been no exception :) So, to all those who've helped make this the best year yet, thanks very much and have a great holidays! Finally tonight, i'll leave you with some numbers (how could I not? :p) Songs written: 10 Music play on soundclick: about 2222 - My Immortal and Boulevard of Broken Dreams both are over 1100 :D Blogwatch loads: >500 :) Goals scored: umm...wasn't keeping track :p Trips to ACT: 4 - hahaha, you think I'd learn Years better than this: 0

Blog Watcher has moved! It's now on a server that I (part) own - thanks again Raf for organising that one - so can people update their links to http://padster.gyronet.org/blogwatch ! Thanks - there's now a nicer automated registration process, so you can tell others about it as I don't need to sign people up manually now. (Oh, and sorry for the google ad, it was just too tempting :p). And those people who were already members, if possible can you send me an email (padsterpat at gmail dot com) with your current email address so I can update the database? thanks :) Summer scholarship has started...programming all day for most weekdays, fun fun fun :D Hopefully Blog Watcher will be faster soon, I'll post whenever it gets updated. Ta!

[rant-ish, skip to below if you want]My watch arrived, so I went to pick it up from the store, and everything seemed to be going ok. I tried it on later, and realised it was too big and I needed some links removed, so I returned and was going to walk in to ask about it when I got cut off at the door (yes, an attendant actually stood in front of me as I was walking in). I explained the situation, how I had picked up my watch earlier and wanted links taken out. "What type??" - "Rado Original" - "Show me."...."We don't fix bands, sorry". I was a bit confused about having to prove to them I actually had a watch...the only logical reason for asking me this, especially seeing as they already knew they didn't fix bands, would be because they didn't think I actually had it. So, I got turned away without even entering the store, yet older customers managed to walk right through without such harsh attention. The second indication of this attitu...

Yet again, me is off to the nation's capital, staying at ANU for 10 days to help train people in programming, and probably learn a few things myself. Which means I won't be in the normal levels of contact until i get back (late on the 15th) - so, to all those people with birthdays, valedictories, soccer matches....or anything really - enjoy life here in SA while I'm gone! It seems that this year, like the last two, there will be no girls at the programming camp...the gender that makes up 52% of this country, you'd hope that something like this wasn't so gender-inbalanced...though, looking at the TopCoder member audience, the IOI participants and the IT industry in general, it does seem like a trend. I wonder why though....like, even maths isn't this one-sided. Is it the way it's promoted? The fact that it's computer-related? The testing process?....hmm, if you have any thoughts pls add them to the comments, they'd be much appreciated. Back to the mus...

Well well well, it's been an interesting coupla days...and for some reason (apologies for those who've noticed, and many thanks for those who lent an ear to hear about it) I've been feeling in a state of confusion :S Hopefully the 10 days in ACT will act as a holiday to clear that up, but at least I've got another song out of it :) {albeit a sad one...sorry...}. Basically, during an MSN conversation about this matter, I had mentioned to someone what I'd been thinking about, and it went something like: Well it seemed... But then they...... And I thought... hhmm...... Basically, disjoint fractions of sentences buzzing around my head, leading to this confusion about everything in general :o ! Anyhow, I thought it'd be nice to have a song that had that sort of confusion in it, so I sat down today (minus the broken E string and with the other strings all a semitone sharp) and wrote "Confused". It's still not quite finished yet, and I haven't recorde...